The Way Home
by Absolution
Summary: It was on their fourth trip back to the other dimension that Luigi finally accepted that Daisy was never coming back to New York.


It was on their fourth trip back to the other dimension—the fourth time Daisy had appeared on their doorstep, the fourth time they'd been welcomed back as heroes, the fourth time Daisy had become tearful when he brought up returning to Brooklyn—that he finally accepted that she was never coming back.

"I just need to get things sorted out," she insisted. This conversation had become a tradition for them over the last six months: after they'd dealt with the latest threat facing Dinohattan, Mario would busy himself elsewhere and Luigi and Daisy would wander off hand in hand and find some secluded spot to talk and to kiss and to bask in each other's company, and eventually Luigi would work up the courage to talk about her coming back, and she would shoot him down yet again.

This particular time, they were on the roof of the royal family's temporary home; the Royal Tower, reclaimed from Koopa and the mold, was being renovated, so Daisy and her father lived in another building nearby. The sun was setting—for once it was clear enough to nearly get a sunset—and they were watching it with their hands entwined and she'd smiled up at him with such adoration that he'd dared to think that this time might be different.

But it wasn't, and her "I just need to get things sorted out" was the straw that broke the camel's back. He looked down at her, at her tattered clothes and the burn on her jawline from their latest adventure, and he knew that she would sacrifice anything for her people. And he knew, in that moment, that one of the things she was going to sacrifice was New York City.

"It's not getting things sorted out," he insisted quietly. "You're not coming home, are you?"

She looked up at him and he could see in her face that she was going to deny it, and then her expression changed in the moment when she realized he was right. The fingers still clasping his tightened for a moment, and then were gone as she leaned forward and put her face in her hands. Deeply uncomfortable, he found he didn't know what to do with his suddenly-unoccupied hand, and after fidgeting for a moment he settled on stretching it out across the back of the bench behind her. Not touching her, but ready in case she wanted him to.

"No," she whispered through her hands. "I don't think I am."

So this was heartbreak, he pondered as his throat suddenly felt thick. He'd never had his heart broken before—never cared enough about a girl that she'd be able to hurt him. He didn't enjoy the sensation. Mario had warned him; he'd been dropping little hints for a month now that maybe it would take Daisy so long to get things sorted out that Luigi ought to start seeing other girls. With the clarity that comes of retrospection, Luigi could see that Mario had suspected that this moment was coming.

"Well, it's your decision, Daisy." He was trying to prove he could take it well but he didn't know if he was fooling her. He certainly wasn't fooling himself. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

She'd taken her hands away from her face and was staring down at Dinohattan, as though seeing in the run-down city an echo of its counterpart in the other dimension. "I love New York," she said quietly. "But in some ways I never felt like I belonged there. I spent all my time studying the ancient world; I was much more interested in dinosaurs than I was in the people around me." Her lips quirked into a smile. "I guess now I know why. But here . . . here makes sense. Here feels right. I'd miss New York but I'd miss Dinohattan more, if I left."

"I don't know," he joked, trying to lighten the mood because if he didn't he was going to do something stupid like cry. "You know the pizza's way better on the other side. They put lizards and stuff on it here." She laughed—her vegetarianism was rather problematic in a city that struggled to grow any crops—and he laughed nervously and added, "And they got trees in our world. And rivers and grass and stuff, not just deserts."

She laughed again, but her focus was still on the city in front of her. "Oh, I know. It's just—" Suddenly she grabbed his hand and pulled him up off the bench, tugging him to the railing. "Look," she said, pointing with her free hand at Dinohattan spread out before them. "This is my city. These are my people. And Koopa messed everything up so badly. I've seen pictures; before he took over, even with the resource problem this was a much better place. It was clean and orderly. There was work. People were happy. And we can get that back. Dad and I have been working so hard and everyone in the city has really come together to get this back the way it was. And the greenhouses—" She gestured toward the edge of the city. "Dad's got all these scientists working on those and how to grow our own food, and if the water reclamation people manage to improve the system the way they think we can, we'll have enough for irrigation and we can grow crops out in the desert. And the building projects—" She was getting excited, passionate, and that light in her eyes that he loved so much made him first smile, and then sigh.

"And I can be here for all of that," she said. "I can help. We can make it better. And Luigi—" she tightened her grip on his hand without seeming to realize she had done so, because her focus didn't seem to be on him at all right then— "someday I'll be the ruler of all of this. I have to succeed my father; if he has no heir, and we have a power struggle, what if someone as terrible as Koopa takes over? I can't do that to these people again, no matter how good the pizza is on the other side." She smiled ruefully at him. "And if I'm going to become queen, I need to learn everything I can from my father first. I need to be here."

And then she laughed. "I didn't mean to get so passionate about it. I just—I hadn't made that decision until right now, and it feels so right, and I just needed to tell someone _why _it felt right, so I'll remember it, so I don't start doubting myself in the future."

He felt like a discarded bag: hollow, like the wind could blow him away, and although he was standing next to her holding her hand, he felt like he was miles from her, like the dimensional rift already stood between them. "Those seem like good reasons," he forced himself to say, and then had a fierce internal struggle over whether it was better to leave now and make a clean break, or to extend the visit as long as possible and enjoy his last few hours with her. He could hear Mario's voice in his head—_do it fast, like ripping off a Bandaid—_and decided that was good advice. "So." He attempted and failed to sound calm. "So this is it?"

That had surprised her, he could tell. "It?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"It," he repeated, confused. "You know, goodbye. If you're for sure gonna stay, and we don't ever know if you're ever gonna need us again, then I thought I should probably tell you goodbye."

"But I was going to . . ." she trailed off, her eyes still alight with bafflement until they filled with comprehension and then determination. "Luigi," she said, and took one of his hands in both of hers, "I'm going to stop living in New York, but that doesn't mean I want to stop being with you."

"But if you stay here . . ."

"Stay with me," she said softly, and she was so beautiful in the evening light with her face smudged and her eyes hopeful that he almost said yes. But this was about more than just him and Daisy.

"I can't," he whispered.

She hadn't expected that, he could tell, but she figured it out quickly. "Mario," she guessed.

He shrugged. "He's all the family I got; I can't leave him behind. And he'll never come here; he's got Daniella and she's got loads of family in Brooklyn."

"But you can live apart," she insisted. "If one of you ever got a job outside of New York, you'd be separated."

"Wouldn't happen," Luigi said confidently. "They need plumbers in New York as much as they do anywhere."

"Okay," she said slowly, and he could feel her starting to tremble. "What if one of you met a girl, and _she_ had to live somewhere else?"

He was still a long moment before answering. "I would have no idea what to do. Same as I do now."

"Then we'll keep doing what we've been doing," she said decisively. "I'll come get you every now and then and we'll fight a rogue dinosaur and then afterward we'll do . . . this." She gestured at the rooftop around them. "And we can both have our real lives in our own worlds."

"You can't do that, Daisy. You're a princess. Don't princesses always have to get married in the movies?" He shrugged to give himself a moment and hide his warring emotions, then added, "And you deserve to get married. Someone nice. You deserve to be happy."

"You make me happy," she insisted, and it was strangely comforting to see her eyes fill up with tears—at least he wasn't the only one whose heart was breaking. At least he knew she'd miss him as much as he'd miss her. "I love you, Luigi. I want to be with you."

It was the first time either of them had said it, and it would have filled his heart to bursting if it hadn't already broken it. As it was he could only give her half a smile. "I love you too, Daisy. But it looks like both of us gotta stop that."

And now there were tears running down both their faces, and wordlessly they left the roof.

In the throne room they found King Bowser and Mario chatting amiably. But one look at Luigi's face had Mario up on his feet and striding toward them. Bowser turned and saw the couple at the door and quickly followed suit.

Daisy and Luigi were both wiping tears from their eyes at this point, and under different circumstances it would have been almost comical to see how uncomfortable their two companions were. "What's going on?" Mario asked gently.

"Well," Luigi said after a moment, figuring Mario would get the answer out of him eventually, "Daisy's going to stay in this world. For good."

"Well, that's wonderful news, darling," said the king, embracing his daughter. "But you don't seem happy about this."

"It's just . . . saying good bye," Daisy said through her tears. "It's hard."

"Saying goodbye?" said the king, mystified. "Why would you be saying good bye?"

The teary young couple stared at him in surprise a few moments before Luigi spoke up. "We'll be living in different worlds. How could we be together if we can never be together?"

"Then move here," King Bowser said as though the answer was obvious.

Daisy shook her head. "He doesn't want to leave Mario."

And there it was, the truth told, all the cards on the table. In the silence that followed Daisy's proclamation, Mario looked earnestly at Luigi and Luigi shifted slightly; his older brother could give some soul-piercing stares when he wanted to. "Luigi," said Mario gently, "you were always gonna hafta move out some time. Maybe this is the time."

"Move out?" asked Luigi, shocked. "You don't want me around anymore?"

"Of course I do," Mario replied, his voice softening. "But you're thinking it'll always be just like when you were growing up, but it can't be. You know, I got Daniella, and I was thinking maybe it's time me and her settle down. And I always knew someday you'd meet a nice girl and want to get your own place." He gestured at Daisy. "And you have."

"But you didn't think I'd move to another dimension," Luigi pointed out. "This isn't me being up the street and we can still get together for Sunday dinners. When would I ever see you?"

"Whenever you like," said the king, and Luigi jumped a little, having nearly forgotten that their conversation had an audience. "The guards already have orders to let you both through the portal at any time. As long as access to the portal stays open in your world, you can come and go as you please."

"The city's putting a park there now," Mario pointed out. "As long as it stays that way for a while and they don't dig down to where the portal is, it'd be easy for us to access the sewer lines."

"What do you say, Luigi?" Bowser asked. "Come try life on this side for a while?"

Luigi hesitated, looking at his brother, and then turned to Daisy, who was giving him the most adorable hopeful smile. "You want me to stay?" he asked.

"I want you to do what seems right for you," she corrected. "But I really hope that means staying here with me." And when she slipped her hand into his he knew what he was going to choose.

But he still had his conditions. "But Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, we're spending those back on my side," he insisted.

Her smile widened. "I can handle that."

He took a deep breath, then smiled back. "Then let's do this."

"We can tell people you moved upstate or something, so they don't worry," said Mario. "Father Angelo would notice you were gone, definitely, and that nosy landlady. And do you want to come back and pack, or do you want me to pack for you?" And then his words trailed off as he saw Luigi wrap his arms around Daisy and kiss her. "Maybe I should just mind my own business," he muttered.

"I don't think they'd notice either way," smiled Bowser. "Come on, let's leave them to it. Have I ever showed you how to shoot fireballs? It's really quite useful."

And the two men left the room. Daisy and Luigi didn't notice.

fin


End file.
